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This article has been approved by Professor Barker as compatible with “Real Tekumel”.

Generating Pé Chói

Characters in Gardásiyal

by Robert Dushay

Note: This material on the Pé Chói came from the Tékumel Sourcebook, and the article on the Pé
Chói written by Professor Barker. I have simply chopped it up to fit into the Gardasíyal character
generation system. --Robert Dushay.

Pé Chói are frequently found in human communities. Many communities of 5,000 people or
more include at least a few Pé Chói, and they may even be found in less populated areas, as they
sometimes work as foresters, hunters, or estate managers. They age at about the same rate as
humans do, too. Therefore, Pé Chói characters who were raised in human lands generate
characters exactly as humans do, except for the obvious physical and psychic differences. They
belong to clans and determine skills just as humans do. Pé Chói worship all human deities,
although they prefer Hnálla, Thúmis, Karakán, Hru#'u#, Ksárul, and Vimúhla the most.

Pé Chói who were raised in the forests of Dó Cháka use a modified skill generation system.
They may choose at any time to switch to the human skill development system (by moving to a
human community.)

Pé Chói names: The Pé Chói use poetic names, such as "Tk-étk-dsa`" (meaning "Green-Timber-
Like-Warrior"), although their phonemes are often difficult for humans to pronounce. Other
examples of Pé Chói names (no translation available) are "Chtk-ptk" and "Ttk-mtk-ntp".
Humans often give them more pronounceable nicknames.

"Academic Skills" (Corresponds to 7.1 in Adventures on Tékumel, Vol. 1) Pé Chói education
does not have a formal division between school and leisure time, therefore Pé Chói characters
raised in the forests do not choose elementary and outdoor skills separately. Instead, they pool
the skill points from table 7.1 and the 5 skill points for outdoor skills, and choose off the
Elementary table below. The Pé Chói also get 6-10 (D5+5) skill units to invest in the
Occupational Skills table. As for humans, no more than 2 levels of any skill may be bought at
this time. Pé Chói raised in the forests do not learn religion as a skill, and they may learn sorcery
without studying religion.

"Growing Pains" (Corresponds to 8. in Adventures on Tékumel, Vol. 1) The Pé Chói character
returns to the table in 7.1, adds 5 points to the total, and obtains skills from the Elementary skills
table below. They also get as many points to invest in Occupational skills as obtained before. As
before, no more than 2 levels in any skill may be purchased. To maintain balance with human
characters, warrior and archer may not be chosen at this time, although the Pé Chói of the forests
would probably not be bothered by their children studying these skills at this time.

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"Academic Skills" (Corresponds to 8.1 in Adventures on Tékumel, Vol. 1) The Pé Chói of the
forests spend little time on advanced academic skills. Use the skill units obtained in table 8.1 on
both the occupational skills table and the Advanced skills table given below. Most Pé Chói
travel to Mu'ugalavyá or Tsolyánu to study advanced topics (meaning they often switch to the
regular rules at this point, if they wish to learn advanced subjects).

"Hobby Skills" As for humans, but the following skills are not relevant to the Pé Chói in their
own societies:

Arts and Crafts: Book illumination, Calligraphy, Clothing, Perfumes and Essences.

Collecting: Coins, Perfumes and Essences, Slaves, Wines and fine liqueurs. The Pé Chói of the
forests do collect elegantly shaped pieces of wood, sometimes as "found objects", sometimes
enhanced by cutting and polishing. The Pé Chói do not have one term for these objects, and their
purpose--art? furniture? learning devices?--is incomprehensible to humans. Consider this
hobby "Wood collecting".

Business and Professional: Few of these are relevant to Pé Chói society. In the forests, the Pé
Chói do not use human economic systems or coins, preferring to barter and to use another, more
complex system of traded influence that is virtually unknown to humans (and very difficult to
understand.) These systems do not lend themselves to being "hobbies". Pé Chói may take
Foreign Trade, and Timber and forest products.

Spectator Sports and Pastimes: Dueling, Falconry, Fishing, Gladiators, Puppetry, Sailing,
Swimming, The Hirilákte Arenas, Unarmed martial arts.

Food and Drink: Drunkenness, Drugs and narcotics, Fine liqueurs, Teetotalling. Fine wines
refers to the few mild fermented drinks of the Pé Chói.

Government and Politics: Only Foreign (meaning "human") is suitable. The Pé Chói sense of
"appropriate action" makes politics irrelevant to them, and they have little interest in the subject.

Fighting and the Military: Artillery, Assassin's weapons, Dueling, Gladiatorial combat, Logistics
and supply, Military history, Sieges and Fortifications, Strategy, Tactics, Unarmed martial arts.
Replace Nonhuman weapons and tactics with Human weapons and tactics. Note: the Pé Chói
sense of "appropriate action" makes the study of strategy and tactics unnecessary. A very rare Pé
Chói may choose to study specialized human fighting techniques, but these unusual types require
a referee's permission to learn these subjects (and will almost certainly need to find a human
instructor).

Science and Knowledge: Navigation, Oceanography. Replace Tribal languages with Other Pé
Chói languages. There are six Pé Chói languages, and three of them are extinct. The ones in use
are spoken in 1. northern and eastern Do Cháka (called Ts-tkt), 2. western Do Cháka and
Mu'ugalavyáni Pé Chói villages, 3. the "wild" villages of the Sárku-worshipping Pé Chói in the
Do Chakán interior.

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Religion: This hobby is extraordinarily rare, as most Pé Chói have little concern for the religious
issues that plague humans. The following hobbys are simply not possible to follow in Pé Chói
territory: Factions and politics, Heresies, Temple administration. Human religions may be
included under "Nonhuman religions".

Sex and Romance: The Pé Chói do not share the human obsession with sex. The only topics here
of interest to them would be Love Poems and Romantic Love, and these would be rarely studied.

Elementary Skills
Archery (2)
Athletics (1)
Brawling (1)
Forest survival (2)
Hunting (1)
Interpreter (Mu'ugalavyáni or Tsolyáni only (3)
Mathematics (2)
Medicine (2)
Music (1)
Read (Pé Chói stylus marks) (1)
Sorcery (See below) (2)
Warrior (2)

Occupational Skills
Architect (with the Pé Chói secretion used as a building material) (2)
Armourer (3)
Artist/Sculptor (3)
Basketry (1)
Beast-trainer (1)
Botanist (2)
Brewer (Pé Chói fruit drinks) (1)
Carpenter (1)
Cloth-maker (1)
Cook (1)
Engineer (3)
Farmer (1)
Fletcher (1)
Forester (1)
Glassblower (2)
Hunter, tracker (1)
Interpreter (3)
Jeweller-goldsmith (2)
Musician (2)
Physician (3)
Potter, crockery-maker (1)
Rope and net maker (1)
Smith (1)
Tanner (1)

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Weaver (1)

Advanced Skills
Alchemist (2)
Astrology (3)
Geographer (3)
Geologist (3)
Historian (Pé Chói history) (2)
Languages (See Sec. 8.2) (3)
Logician (3)
Mathematician (3)
Musician (2)
Philosopher (3)
Sorcerer (See below and Sec. 8.5)
Warrior (See below and Sec. 8.6)
Zoologist (2)

Sorcery, Religion, and Priestly Skills:
When not in human society, the Pé Chói worship two deities: The Father of Nests (who is most
closely related to Hnálla and Thúmis, and is considered an Aspect of each of these deities in
human temples) and The Black Old One (most closely related to Hru#'u# and Ksárul, and
considered an Aspect of these deities). There are no temples in Pé Chói lands: they have little
interest in theological speculation, although the skills of logician, philosopher, and sorcerer are
admired. Characters may not become Pé Chói priests unless they journey to human lands.

A character who wishes to study sorcery in the Pé Chói villages does not learn from the
priesthood. However, in order to preserve the magic system of the game, a Pé Chói sorcerer
character should choose one human deity to determine which spells can be learned. Once this
deity is chosen, the character may only change under the same circumstances as a human
character: all knowledge reserved to the old deity is removed from the character's mind,
including spells. No character may ever know spells from more than one temple's list! Spells,
therefore, are chosen for Pé Chói just as for human characters, regardless of whether they are in
Pé Chói or human territory.

If a Pé Chói wishes to learn spells in human lands, they must either find a Pé Chói tutor, or they
must adhere to human customs (meaning an affiliation of some sort with the appropriate temple).
Unless they wish to be a lay-priest, they must attain 4th circle scholar-priest before learning more
spells. Pé Chói sorcerers of less than 4th level need only be a 2nd circle scholar-priest to learn
more spells. Of course, Pé Chói just starting to learn sorcery in human lands follow the same
rules humans do. Use the rules in Adventures on Tékumel, Part 2, Vol 1 to obtain promotions to
the appropriate priestly circle.

(NOTE: Although one might assume the sorcery of the forest-dwelling Pé Chói might more
closely resemble shamanistic magic than urban temple magic, it is more likely that they
originally learned magic in the human academies and brought it back into the forests. The Pé

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Chói certainly have specialty spells which are not taught to humans, but these magics are not
known at this time.)

Warrior Skills:
The Pé Chói can use any human weapon, but in their own lands, they use javelins, swords, and
light crossbows almost exclusively. Therefore, in the forests, a character may only learn the
following Warrior skills:

Hand Weapons: Shield (1), Fisticuffs and Brawling (1), Dagger/knife-fighting (1), Shortsword,
mace, club (2), Long sword or scimitar (2), Wrestling (4)
Missile Weapons: Dagger-throwing (1), Javelins (1), Light crossbow (3).

Pé Chói are not required to follow the human rules for learning weapons (that is, they do not
need five skill levels in two weapons out of the first five before advancing to the second five).
However, they must have at least five levels in shortsword before learning long sword.

Other notes:
1. Literacy and literature. The Pé Chói writing system involves using a stylus to make
indentations in soft wood. Pé Chói writing is very rarely used outside of their own settlements in
Do Cháka. Their "books" are almost always scientific in nature, such as astronomy or
mathematics. Their literature is more usually oral, being sung or droned epics. These works are
often performed in choruses, with a leader reciting over the drones or hums of the rest of the
group. These performances are not done in human company, so little is known about it.

2. Pé Chói are considered adults, both sexually and socially, at age 15 or so. From this age to
about age 22, it is common for them to wish to leave their communities and wander. This is the
most common time for Pé Chói to enter human lands, join a mercantile clan, or enlist in a legion.
By age 30, they are usually ready to settle down, often returning to their Dó Chákan villages.

3. No discussion of the Pé Chói is complete without mention of two further topics. The
rudimentary telepathy of the Pé Chói gives them a permanent sense of restless melancholy
beyond the understanding of other races. This feeling is called Ntk-dqekt, and it colors the
sensibilities of every Pé Chói, no matter where or how they are raised. It is impossible for
humans to completely comprehend, including elements of oneness, along with solitude, pain,
lonliness, endurance, and separation.

The Pé Chói also have the concept of the Eternal Garden, called "the Forest of Hh-kk-ssa". The
Eternal Garden inspires deep feelings, and is more important than religion to them. It may
simply be a symbolic means of addressing Ntk-dqekt, giving every Pé Chói a sense of a place
that could be considered their true home, where all Pé Chói are united and the sense of separation
is relieved. It could also be an ancestral memory of their lost homeworld, and thus the true
underlying cause of the Ntk-dqekt. In any event, the Eternal Garden is considered the Pé Chói
equivalent of The Isles of the Excellent Dead, save for the fact that the Pé Chói insist it is a real
place that can be visited by the living. (The Pé Chói often refer to it as "the place that cannot be
seen save through the Circlet of Iron". This may be a rock formation in Dó Cháka, or an ancient
magical device, or it may be something else.)